Reunited
by RapunzelK
Summary: Obviously, this is AU.Karl and Edna meet again after almost forty years apart.


She was going to either kill or kiss Charles later. She would certainly lecture him. But not now. E had been aghast when Karl's gently smiling face had swum into focus in the San Diego hospital. She had been certain she was hallucinating, seeing things, perhaps having a vision. But she wasn't. He had been real. He had caught her up and hugged her and cried over her and said her name and spoken to her in a language she had almost forgotten. It had been like something from a dream. Just them, walled off from the rest of the world by the thin and ugly hospital curtain, talking, remembering, just being close to one another. She had never been so sorry to leave a hospital. A week later, she was wondering if it had really happened or not.

And then Charles had brought him to Neverland as well. The sight of Karl's shy smile above the long dinner table in the lava room had pressed breath from her lungs and she was certain with undying humility that Charles had felt every tingling prickle beneath her skin. He had been insufferably smug all through the meal, but she couldn't blame him for it. He had a right to be pleased with himself. E, however, had found the whole ordeal somewhere between a dream and a nightmare. She wanted horribly to run and throw her arms around Karl but that would have been neither polite nor fitting. Instead she had sat quietly, squirming with emotion inside, hardly able to eat. They had exchanged a few polite words over dinner, but nothing untoward. Not with Charles and Mirea sitting right there. She was glad when Charles finally took the hint and led Mirea away from the table. E and Karl had sat briefly for a moment in blushing silence, unsure what to say or do. It took a moment before E shook herself and remembered who she was and whom she was sitting across from. She was Edna Mode and "awkward" was not a word in her vocabulary. Besides it was only Karl in the room with her. He knew her and her quirks and mannerisms. He understood the way she thought. Of all people, he was the last person she had reason to be embarrassed before.

With her head on straight once more, E drifted slightly, ghosting around the edges of his consciousness trying to get a sense of how he felt. She could tell from his face alone that the drama of the lava room was a bit much. He wasn't used to such extravagance. Hopping down, E went round to his side of the table. He stood waiting for her, elbow out for her to take. She slid her hand through his arm and allowed him to escort her from the room.

Once outside he relaxed a little though he still seemed nervous. No doubt it was equally strange for him as it was for her. And it WAS strange. It was as if she'd been thrust back forty years. Even in the reassuringly clean and solid corridors of the complex, monorail cars and uniformed guards and other staff members quietly coming and going it still seemed surreal. She hadn't taken Karl's arm in years. It seemed too perfect to be real.

She felt strange about taking him back to her room, though the suite included a living room and kitchenette. He'd never even been inside the breezeway of her boarding house back in Dessau and anything more felt like a horrible breach of etiquette. Instead she keyed a command for the nearest smoking lounge and the pod whisked them away.

She smiled at the interior. It was rather like something she would have designed. Round instead of cubist, the room was large, airy, and done entirely in black, red, and white. Karl followed her inside, less nervous than he'd been in the exotic dining room, but still strangely self-conscious. The urge to glomp and kiss him was overwhelming but E ruthlessly stomped it down. Something was bothering him. Instead she produced her cigarette holder and stuck a roll of dried cloves and tobacco in the end. Hopping up on one of the rounded armchairs, she patted the seat for Karl to sit next to her. The chair was built to comfortably fit someone along the lines of Mr. Incredible and while there was more than enough room for both of them to sit side by side, Karl seemed hesitant.

"Come, dahling, it's only me." E told him with a soft smile. Karl returned the smile shyly and climbed up. He busied himself filling his pipe for a moment and waited while E lit it with a thought of fire. He had a hundred things he wanted to say, a thousand thoughts pressing down on him, and yet he seemed unable to speak. With a start she realized he was worried.

"What's wrong, dahling?" she asked.

Karl looked at her and searched her face with his eyes. He wasn't trying to X-ray her; he was looking deeper, searching her eyes for an answer. But she did not know the question.

_Please tell me, what is it?_

He looked down, ashamed.

_Are you angry with me?_

E blinked.

_Of COURSE not. Why on earth would I be angry with you?_

His shame deepened.

_Because I knew where you were, but I didn't contact you._

_Karl…_she reached and put a hand on his shoulder. _It's been a long time. I understand why you didn't. How were either of us to know what had become of the other?_

He nodded quietly. She decided to goad him out of his mood.

_I'm not upset. Unless you have a wife and children you're not telling me about._

He blushed and laughed.

"Heh, no. I'm still an old bachelor." He smiled and took her hands. "There vas no point in seeing anyone after you."

It was E's turn to blush at this.

"That's what I used to tell all the reporters."

"I know."

Despite her best efforts a quiet giggle escaped.

"God," she laughed, "I feel like I'm eighteen again."

Karl just smiled content to watch her face. They sat quietly for a long time, just looking at each other. E couldn't decide if it felt more like days or the decades it actually had been. So little had changed about him. Time and the terrors of war had peppered his hair with a few gray strands but other than that, she could detect no change in him, no difference. He was just the same as he always had been.

"E…" his expression softened as he reached and touched her face. Warm wetness smeared across her cheek and she realized with a distant shock that she was crying. Setting her cigarette in the tray she put her arms around him and leaned her head on his shoulder. The sensation of Karl's arms surrounding her and drawing her close was almost too welcome to bear. E didn't cry. Ever. And yet she couldn't stop the sudden flow of warm tears pouring down her cheeks. It didn't matter. It was Karl. She had let him see her cry before and it did not bother her to have him watch now. Strangely, it seemed important that she shed tears in his presence. He needed to see this as much as she needed to vent. Forty years was a long time to worry about someone.

_I'm sorry, Love…_ Karl thought, kissing her hair.

_I'm not upset, I'm just glad you're all right._ It was true and she reached and wrapped him in her thoughts to show him that it was. He stiffened briefly and then relaxed, refamiliarizing himself with the feeling of her essense so close his.

_I wanted to write you…but I didn't want to hurt you worse._

_You haven't hurt me. I'm just glad you're here now._

_But E…_he sounded uncertain, fear all too obvious in his quavering thoughts. _I… I saw…things…and I…I…_

_Shhh…_She reached and laid a finger across his lips tho he had not opened his mouth to speak.

_You don't have to confess anything to me. I know. And it doesn't matter. I love you._

His relief, his joy was almost tangible. Was tangible, for she had stretched and kissed him.


End file.
